Shane Randel, one of the advocates for better beer in Boise and one of the people profiled in The Best of American Beer & Food, has left the Front Door. However, the owners promise that craft beer and food will still be featured. Read about it in this article from the Idaho Statesman, which also mentions the many fabulous beer feasts Randel organized with craft brewers such as Full Sail and Lagunitas.
If you love hoppy American craft brews, then you probably know there’s an acute shortage of hops. At the Milwaukee Ale House’s Midwinter Beer Fest, I spoke with a brewer who talked about importing hops from Argentina! Now, help is at hand with a most generous offer from Jim Koch of the Boston Beer Company, brewers of the Samuel Adams line of craft brews. Koch has offered up to 20,000 pounds of hops from the 2007 harvest to sell, at the original cost, to needy craft brewers. The application process is detailed on the website, samueladams.com, under the “hop sharing program” icon. It’s a huge act of generosity, to share a key brewing ingredient when it is so scarce.(I’m also grateful to Jim Koch for the kind things he had to say about the cookbook on the cover - thanks again!)
Tuscarora Mill ”We Cook the Best of American Beer and Food!”
Join me at a beer dinner with Clipper City’s Hugh Sisson and Chef Patrick Dinh, to celebrate craft beer at the table at Tuskies.
Shawn Malone and Chef Dinh, with Hugh Sisson and Tom Cizauskas, bring me back to Virginia for a 7-course tasting.
1) Lager Steamed Mushroom Dumplings with Marzhon Sweet and Sour Sauce served with Gold Medal winning Balto MarzHon
2) Angry Lobster Szechuan Style served with Small Craft Warning Uber Pils
3) Grilled Rainbow Trout with Mission Fig Butter and Green Cardamom Lentils served with fresh cask Loose Cannon Hop3 Ale
4) Fennel Crusted Rack of Lamb with Barley Risotto, Peg Leg Stout Sauce served with a 2nd fresh cask of Peg Leg Imperial Stout
5) Holy Sheet Braised Short Ribs with Raclette Potatoes served with Holy Sheet Uber Abbey Ale
6) Cheese Intermezzo of Tilston Point Blue Cheese with nut bread, pear coulis, and frisee served with Below Decks Barleywine (2007 vintage)
7) Coconut cream pie (mmm, a Southern favorite) served with Hang Ten Weizen Dopplebock
Dinner begins at 7pm. Book signing and meet-and-greet at 6:30. Cost is $65 per person, inclusive. Reservations required. Call the Tuscarora Mill at (703) 771-9300 and ask for Shawn or John.
Wednesday, March 5, Tuscarora Mill
203 Harrison St SE
Leesburg, VA 20175
(703) 771-9300
Come meet Hugh Sisson of Clipper City and Chef Ian Morrison of the Royal Mile Pub next month, Tuesday, March 4, as they host a book signing and dinner to celebrate the cookbook. Chef Ian Morrison creates a six course menu, pairing Clipper City’s beers with recipes from my cookbook, The Best of American Beer and Food. And thanks to Tom Cizauskas who put me in touch with Brewer Hugh Sisson and Chef Ian as I was writing the cookbook last year!
1) Passed Hors d’oeuvres paired with the reception ale, Oxford Raspberry Wheat- Stuffed Mushrooms, Smoked Salmon Crostini, and more
2) “Surf N’ Turf” Tasting - Mini Burgers and Cheese Stuffed Shrimp w/ Bacon (both from Lucy’s book) served with Gold-Medal winning Balto MarzHon
3) Asiago Cheese Soup with Holy Sheet Uber Abbey Ale
4) Butter Poached Lobster Tail with Vanilla Beurre Blanc over Lobster Claw Mashed Potatoes, paired with Small Craft Warning Uber Pils
5) Braised Beef Short Ribs with Pomegranates accompanied by glazed parsnips and carrots with the Peg Leg Imperial Stout
6) Lemon Thai Basil Sorbet (Ian’s mom’s recipe in Lucy’s book!) with a fresh cask of Loose Cannon Hop3 Ale
Dinner begins at 7pm. Book signing and meet-and-greet starts at 6:30. Cost is $55 per person. Reservations required. Call the Royal Mile Pub at (301) 946-4511 and ask for Chef Ian or Amanda.
Tuesday, March 4 at the Royal Mile Pub
2407 Price Avenue
Wheaton, MD 20902
(301) 946-4511
Join me on Friday, February 1, at 11:15 AM EST, as the Sirius radio channel devoted to Martha Stewart Everyday Food will be featuring Super Bowl party tips, with host Sandy Gluck. Chefs from every NFL city will be preparing their signature dishes for the Taste of the NFL - and Martha Radio is there in Phoenix. Tune in Friday morning and Saturday evening for recipes, menu ideas and all the goodies for hosting a fun Super Bowl party - including craft beer pairing tips! Here’s the link:
Here’s a review with a nice round-up of Superbowl recipes from food writer Marialisa Calta, published in the Daily Dispatch newspaper, Douglas, Arizona. I like her advice that party food should be self-contained and portable, so as not to obscure the sightlines!
I also got a call from Bill Brand of What’s on Tap, the California Craft Beer Newsletter asking for recommendations on beer and potato chip pairings…and here you go:
Barbecue flavored potato chips - Brown ale - sweet and spicy!
Vinegar and salt flavored potato chips - American wheat ale - fruity esters match with tangy vinegar
Dill flavored potato chips - Bold craft pilsner - hoppy meets herbal on the palate
Beer flavored potato chips - India pale ale - because beer chips taste sweet, salty and malty
Plain potato chips - Farmhouse ale - in homage to frites, which predate the potato chip by, oh, a few centuries.
Add your suggestions…
For decades, Anheuser-Busch has held exclusive beer sponsorships at stadiums, festivals, even culinary cook-offs such as Memphis in May. But now, the biggest brewer in America seems to wish to appear somewhat smaller, more approachable, as a sponsor of next month’s Charleston Food & Wine Festival under the imprimatur of Here’s to Beer. Both the A-B brewmaster and Chef Brent Wertz from the A-B resort, the Kingsmill Spa, will be talking ’bout beer and food pairings at the festival, with celebrity chefs such as Carrie Nahabedian of Naha in Chicago, and Chris Hastings of the Hot and Hot Fish Club in Birmingham, Alabama. Hope that the foodies who visit Charleston for the fest will also go out of their way to sample the local Palmetto Brewing Co. Porter or the new COAST Brewing Co.’s HopArt IPA.
We’ll have another craft beer and cheese tasting class at Fromagination in Madison, WI, on Wednesday, January 23, 2008. Class size is limited to 15, so sign up early. The theme? Winter warmers, of course. Happy holidays!
Rose Ann Finkel is an accomplished cook, tremendous supporter to small purveyors and specialty food producers, and a generous contributor of recipes to both “The Best of American Beer and Food” and my earlier cookbook, “Grilling with Beer.” Join us on Tuesday, December 11, at the Pike Pub and Brewery, from 5-8 PM. Here’s a note about it from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
Thanks to Rose Ann and Charles Finkel for hosting a terrific event, which included a tasting of the new bar menu devised by chef Gary Marx. Some of my favorites: organic radishes with fresh creamery butter and truffle salt, which is an earthy blend of pulverized dried black truffle with sea salt. Delicious with the Tandem ale…
Here are a few short reviews of the cookbook as part of holiday gift guides - an entertaining riff by Joe Sixpack - as well as a recipe from the Best of American Beer & Food featured in the food section of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
